


What You Endure

by MagpiePair



Category: TOMORROW X TOGETHER | TXT (Korea Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Child Abuse, Child Neglect, Choi Beomgyu-Centric, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Yeonjun POV, injuries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-15
Updated: 2020-10-15
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:48:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,016
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27026110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MagpiePair/pseuds/MagpiePair
Summary: Beomgyu's friends start noticing some things that are off about him. Things that lead them to an ugly conclusion.(High school AU, trigger warning for child abuse!)
Relationships: Choi Beomgyu & Choi Soobin, Choi Beomgyu & Choi Yeonjun, Choi Beomgyu & Everyone, Choi Beomgyu & Huening Kai, Choi Beomgyu & Kang Taehyun
Comments: 4
Kudos: 105





	What You Endure

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, guys! Thank you for clicking on this story!
> 
> Apologies as always for how I hurt these babies. 
> 
> In this, they are all in high school, and they're all the same age!

“Get off! You’re too heavy, I can’t carry all of you!!”

Soobin’s cries are met with mocking laughter by his company. Yeonjun cackles particularly sharply as he tightens his grip around the other’s shoulders. Yeonjun couldn’t move off of Soobin if he wanted to- he is pinned in place by Taehyun and Beomgyu both hanging off of his back, and Kai has his arms wrapped around the lot of them, keeping the group packed in place like sardines. 

“You’ve just got to deal with it, Soobin. This is what it means to be the leader of a gang of misfits like us.” Kai enunciates his statement by booping Soobin’s nose. He jerks his head away in fake disgust, though his smile gives him away.

“And when did we decide that I was the leader, exactly?”

“Isn’t it a given?” Kai responds. “It couldn’t be me for obvious reasons-” No one asks him to elaborate on this point. Yeonjun fills in the blank on his own with reasons why Kai should not lead their ragtag group- “-and Beommie isn't very mature either.”

They turn their eyes to Beomgyu, expecting some protest, but he only raises his hands in surrender. “I can acknowledge that.”

Kai continues unbidden. “And Taehyun is too scary. A leader’s gotta be caring and nurturing.”

“Hey!” the other calls. “I can be caring and nurturing! Take it back, say I'm caring and nurturing,” he demands at a normal volume, which is somehow even scarier than if he had yelled, all while fiercely noogie-ing Kai’s shaggy hair. 

“And Yeonjun?” Soobin questions. The look of exasperation on his face is stronger than ever.

Yeonjun snickers. “Isn’t it enough of a blow to my reputation that I hang out with you all? My cool image will never recover if I’m seen as the leader.”

Taehyun turns his noogies against Kai into slaps against Yeonjun’s arm. Kai and Beomgyu both laugh at Yeonjun, who is still running a hand through his hair trying to look cool. 

Yeonjun feels a wide smile pull at his cheeks as he looks over the others. To think four years back, he hadn’t met any of them. As many harsh words as Yeonjun has for their high school, he is grateful that it has brought the five of them together into the close group they are now. 

“So where are we headed?” Soobin interjects, cutting through Yeonjun’s thoughts. Yeonjun realizes belatedly that they had just been ambling down the sidewalk away from the school aimlessly.

“We’ve never been to Beomgyu’s house before,” Kai adds with naked curiosity in his eyes.

“My room’s too small, it wouldn’t be fun,” Beomgyu deflects. It might be Yeonjun’s imagination, but his eyes look a little pinched. “Besides, Taehyun has the best gaming consoles at home anyway.”

“Can’t argue there,” Kai assents. Their steps fall back into rhythm as Taehyun bickers about how they only care for him because of his games, and it seems the topic is forgotten.

But the thought lingers in the back of Yeonjun’s mind. It is a little weird, isn’t it? That they’ve been tightly-knit friends for the past four years but they’ve never been to Beomgyu's house? They’ve visited everyone else’s, even if Taehyun’s and Soobin’s places are their most common hangout spots. 

Yeonjun is sure there must be a reason. A reason beyond ‘my room is too small,’ anyway. But the rest of the group has already walked ahead, and so Yeonjun tries to put it out of his mind for now.

\--

The sound of Beomgyu’s stomach growling is as loud as a jackhammer. At their teacher’s bewildered look in his direction, Beomgyu flushes and looks down, holding his stomach as if to keep in any further noises. 

Yeonjun might normally laugh at the other’s predicament, but this is the third time this week Beomgyu has gone to class seemingly famished. It’s starting to be a little much. 

Once the bell rings and mercifully releases them to lunch period, Yeonjun catches Beomgyu’s eye across the classroom. As the other students finish packing their bookbags and leaving the room, Yeonjun bumps against Beomgyu’s shoulder. “Hungry again, hmm? What’d you bring today?”

“Ah, nothing… Forgot to bring my lunch. What’d you bring?” 

Yeonjun easily wraps an arm around the other as they head off to the cafeteria. “Japchae noodles.” 

“Seriously? That sounds so good…”

“Well, don’t go bumming off me! I think the caf is selling reheated slop today. Yum yum~” Yeonjun wiggles his eyebrows teasingly.

When they reach their destination, Yeonjun sees Soobin wave them over enthusiastically, as if they don’t sit at the same exact table every day. Kai brings out a thermos of hot soup. Yeonjun had wondered at first if Kai was sick when he started showing up day after day with soup for lunch, but the other had assured him he just gets cold easily during this time of year and really likes soup. Taehyun and Soobin lay out their own lunchboxes, and Beomgyu stares with unhidden longing. 

“Weren’t you gonna buy something?” Yeonjun questions when Beomgyu sits beside him. 

“I don’t have any money on me today,” Beomgyu admits sheepishly. 

Taehyun grumbles from across the table and shoves his chopsticks, laden with food, toward Beomgyu. “Well, you’re not starving on my watch. Even if do you always steal my lunch.” 

Soobin gives a wry smile as well as he cups a hand under his chopsticks and feeds Beomgyu directly. Beomgyu has not even finished chewing before Yeonjun and Kai add to the pile of food hovering around his mouth. Beomgyu giggles so hard that he nearly chokes on the bite. 

When Beomgyu manages to swallow down each of his friends’ offerings, Yeonjun can’t help but ruffle his hair in fondness. Yeonjun catches the looks the others throw toward Beomgyu, however. They each discreetly stare at the empty table in front of him with confusion and mild concern. It is as if they are just now realizing that this is far from the first time that Beomgyu has gone without food at school.

Yeonjun resolves to pack extra in his lunch, in case, but he knows that his extras can’t replace a full meal. He also suspects that even if he tried to lend Beomgyu lunch money, he wouldn’t accept it. And so Yeonjun hopes that tomorrow will bring with it a properly-fed Beomgyu. 

\-- 

Tomorrow brings with it no Beomgyu at all. 

“Where is he??” 

“He hasn’t responded to the last 30 text messages or knife emojis I sent,” Kai pouts.

“Okay, but you sent all of those in the last 3 minutes,” Taehyun shoots back.

“Still counts. Have you ever noticed how sometimes he’ll just be unavailable with NO explanation at all?”

Soobin raises a calming hand. “It’s a little thing called privacy, Kai. People don’t owe their friends availability or explanations at all times.”

“Well, sure, /people/ don’t, but this is Beomgyu, and we’re his best bros!”

Yeonjun frowns down at his silent phone for the fifth time in the past ten minutes. “I don’t know, isn’t it kind of unlike him to offer no excuse at all? He usually comes up with something, even if it’s really shitty.”

Taehyun lifts a hand to his chin in thought. “Like when he said he couldn’t come over because he was putting highlights in his hair, but we saw him the next day and there were no highlights?”

“Or when he said he had to finish his homework,” Yeonjun adds with a roll of his eyes and a scoff. They all know very well that he never does his assignments ahead of time.

They each begin trading Beomgyu stories then, unsure what else to do as they wait. The excuses keep getting worse. Yeonjun recalls a few that had sparked not only suspicion but also concern. When Beomgyu had told him he was grounded and had to finish his chores, but he had sounded so demoralized over the phone that Yeonjun’s protective instincts had blared at him all night. Or when he had explained that he dropped his new phone down the stairs and it broke, but Yeonjun knew for a fact how careful Beomgyu was with that thing, calling it his baby and cradling it away from all of their curious touches when he had first obtained it. 

He doesn’t want to doubt his friend, but it does seem like there is often something more behind his excuses for dropping out of contact. But why lie? He could just say if he didn’t want to hang out with them… 

“Sorry!” 

Speak of the devil. Beomgyu rushes up to the group and pauses to bend over and place his hands on his knees. 

Through deep breaths, he manages to squeak out, “Lost my bus transit card.”

The others hum in reply, clearly unconvinced but unwilling to postpone their activities or to start their day off together on a sour or confrontational note.

Luckily, the mood quickly rises again when Kai links arms with Beomgyu and Taehyun and drags them all off in the direction of the arcade. Yeonjun cracks his knuckles in anticipation. He is going to /crush/ them today.

..

Their fun day together stretches well into the nighttime. Soobin, after soundly losing at every game they had tried, agreed to buy them all milkshakes. And so the quintet find themselves sitting by the side of the road near Soobin’s house, taking in the stars and kicking rocks back and forth until the rocks skip out of reach of their feet.

“Do you think elephants can feel romantic love?”

“Watch out, guys. Beomgyu is getting random and philosophical, and that’s our cue that it’s way past his bedtime. …What time is it, anyhow?” Taehyun inquires.

Kai shoots a glance at his phone. “10:04.”

Beomgyu snaps his head over in Kai’s direction so quickly that Yeonjun is sure he hears a painful crick from his neck. “It’s /what/??”

“10:04?” Kai tries again, less sure this time. 

“Fuck… fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck!” Beomgyu mutters, jumping to his feet and checking his pockets for his belongings. 

Yeonjun can only stare. Not that Beomgyu is an entirely innocent soul, but Yeonjun hasn’t heard him curse like that since their math midterm the previous marking period. “Everything okay?” he tries to ask. Key word: tries, because it seems like Beomgyu isn’t hearing much of anything around him at the moment.

Beomgyu paces a moment longer before rounding on Soobin. “Soobin! Best buddy. Best pal. My favorite person-”

“What is it?”

“Can you give me a ride home?” At Soobin’s uneasy look (Yeonjun knows how he feels about driving in the dark), Beomgyu desperately grabs Soobin’s shoulders and begs. “Please?? I really need to get home- my curfew is at 10, and I just- I /need/ to get there, and I promise I’ll make it up to you, so please-”

“Okay, okay,” Soobin concedes. He reaches into his pocket for car keys, and Beomgyu is already racing ahead of him.

In his panic, Beomgyu stumbles up to Soobin’s driveway down the block and waits for the other to unlock his door. Belatedly, he seems to remember the rest of his company, and he waves. “Night, guys! Thanks for the fun day! And thank you for the shake and the ride, Soobin,” he directs to the other as Soobin approaches the car.

Soobin shoots a befuddled and apologetic smile toward the remaining trio as he speeds down the street with Beomgyu in the car. Yeonjun turns back to Kai and Taehyun, who have already begun walking back in the direction of their own homes. Yeonjun falls into step with them. He means to join into an easy conversation with them, he really does, but they seem as averse to talking right now as he does. The previous exchange has really thrown off their rhythm.

What was that, exactly? Beomgyu had seemed so shaken and… afraid… at the thought of being a couple minutes past curfew. Why had he been so anxious about that? Why had he freaked out so badly? 

Yeonjun’s face starts to hurt from how deeply he is frowning. The questions about his friend keep piling up with nary an answer in sight. 

\--

A potential answer comes to them a week later, but it is not one that they like.

It is obvious that Beomgyu is hiding something from them, and perhaps the biggest tell is one that they should have noticed a while back. No, Yeonjun corrects himself with a sigh, they probably should have noticed all of these signs a while back. Beomgyu’s odd behavior isn’t exactly new.

But the worst of it surfaces in the middle of a basketball game at their school’s court after classes. As usual, Beomgyu had dressed in a bathroom stall while the rest of them showered and changed from school uniforms to their exercise clothes in the locker rooms proper. While Yeonjun had in fact given second thought to this action in the past, he had come to the conclusion that the other might be insecure about his body.

The game itself reveals another possible reason for Beomgyu to hide himself away in a stall. 

“On your left!” Beomgyu shouts way too loudly. Kai swivels toward him, his sneakers crunching against the gravel and sweat flying off him in droves. He passes the ball his teammate’s way. 

Taehyun is faster, and he leaps to intercept the pass. Yet, his trajectory matches with Beomgyu’s, and the duo tumble to the pavement. 

“Ow…” Taehyun mumbles, clutching his elbow where the skin has torn. He turns back to check on Beomgyu, only to see the other grabbing his middle and folding over. His eyes are squeezed tightly shut in pain. “A-are you okay?” 

Beomgyu only whimpers. He rolls over from his side to his back, and the movement causes his baggy white shirt to ride up slightly. Soobin gasps, and Yeonjun comes in closer to see what had startled Soobin so. When he does, he echoes Soobin’s upset. 

Because Beomgyu’s ribs are /black and blue./ Underneath Beomgyu’s hands which press against the affected area, Yeonjun can see angry bruises blossoming. They stretch around his torso, potentially even to his back, although Yeonjun can’t see where the injuries end. “What- what the fuck happened?” His voice comes out steadier than he thought possible, considering how his mind had blanked upon seeing the hurt on his friend’s body. 

While the others stare helplessly, Kai bends down and offers a hand to Beomgyu. 

He takes it gratefully, although he still winces as he rises to a seated position. “It’s nothing.”

“That’s not nothing,” Soobin answers him.

“It’s- it’s fine. I was jumping on my bed and fell against my dresser last night, so-”

Kai’s voice is gentle as he tries to meet the other’s eyes. “We know that’s not from a dresser, Beomgyu.”

Beomgyu grits his teeth, and his eyes look suspiciously watery. His voice is soft, but the others still hear a slight edge in it when he pleads, “Can we drop it?” 

Yeonjun’s not happy about it. None of them are. But Beomgyu doesn’t need the third-degree right now- he needs an ice pack, and rest, and probably a doctor or something. But all they can do for him for now is to not say anything else and to lend him their shoulders to lean on as they head over to a bench together. 

Everything about this situation is fishy. A seed of an idea had surfaced in Yeonjun after seeing the bruises. Something to explain Beomgyu’s caginess and all the other weird behaviors he has observed. From the stricken expressions his friends wear, he thinks they might be imagining similar things. But the little thought that has come to him is not a pleasant one.

Yeonjun rubs Beomgyu’s back and hopes. Tries to convince himself there’s nothing seriously wrong, even though everything is telling him otherwise. He wishes Beomgyu would talk to them, but he doesn’t want to force him. He just doesn’t know how much longer he can sit by and watch while something is going on with Beomgyu. 

He knows sooner or later, something has got to break.

\--

It is Beomgyu that breaks, just a couple weeks later. 

After the basketball game, the group of friends had fallen back into old patterns. The others snuck worried glances in Beomgyu’s direction occasionally but did not directly confront him about the bruises they had seen. Beomgyu seemed perfectly content to not bring it up, either, and so they had continued on as usual. 

Then, the past few days, Beomgyu had begun one of his periods of radio silence. He responded to no group or individual messages, and if the messaging app was to be believed, he hadn’t even opened any of their texts. 

So they are all a little shocked when he suddenly spams the group chat with several semi-coherent messages. 

Yeonjun slides his phone out of his pocket at the continued pinging tones. He raises an eyebrow at Soobin, whose phone is making similar sounds. Yeonjun chooses to sate his curiosity first, scrolling through the messages and reading texts such as:

“heeyyyy are any of you there”  
“i don’t think i can move can you come get me”  
“everything kind of hurts”  
“oh whjwsjb im by the haunted house” 

Yeonjun’s eyebrows raise to his hairline. Can’t move? Everything hurts? Alarm bells are ringing in his head. And how had Beomgyu gotten to the ‘haunted house’ exactly? The ‘haunted house,’ so nicknamed because it was a creepy, old, abandoned house that they had decided to explore together one night, was quite a way from Beomgyu’s neighborhood. And from Beomgyu’s solemn vow that he would never go near the place again after almost pissing himself when they had visited… 

Soobin looks to him with urgency. “Let’s go.”

As they turn, they hear voices behind them. They look back to see Taehyun and Kai running up and calling out to them. “Wait for us! We just saw the messages.” 

They all pile into Soobin’s car. Yeonjun can’t help how his leg bounces up and down or how his fingers tap restlessly against the car’s interior. His mind races as he wonders… just how bad must it be that Beomgyu finally reached out to them? What kind of condition is he in that he actually asked for help? What had happened?

The silence in the car on their ride over is taut, but Taehyun breaks it with a weak question. “Is Beomgyu… okay?”

None of them know how to answer, so they don’t. Kai rubs his hand on Taehyun’s knee instead and stares out the window, looking frightened. 

Soobin skids the car to a halt in front of the bus stop by the haunted house. There, they see a figure curled up on the bench, knees pulled to his chest and head hidden in his arms. They each rush out of the car to meet Beomgyu.

He glances up at the commotion, his face a mix of blood and tears. “Guys…” He won’t remove his hand from his nose, and Yeonjun realizes that must be the source of the blood. Kai and Taehyun are both instantly reaching into their bags for packets of tissues. As they do, Yeonjun gives his friend a once over.

His probably-broken nose is far from the only point of concern. The fingers of his one hand, the one not cupping his nose, look red and crushed, as though they had been stepped on. The way Beomgyu gingerly hovers one foot above the concrete also leaves Yeonjun wondering about his ankle, and there is little to wonder about when it comes to Beomgyu’s shoulder. Clear bruising shows under the collar of his shirt. What other marks and injuries might the boy have that aren’t immediately apparent? Yeonjun feels vaguely sick as he thinks this. 

“Okay, Beomgyu, everything’s gonna be fine. We’re gonna bring you to a doctor- it’ll be…” /Fine/, Soobin doesn’t finish. Can’t finish. He just lays a hand hesitantly on Beomgyu’s arm as if uncertain where it is okay to touch him. 

Yeonjun worries. He worries the entire way to seeking medical help. He fusses over Soobin’s words- if everything has ever truly been fine before, or if it ever will be.

…

“I’ll need you all to leave the room so I can speak with the patient privately for a moment. It’s just a few questions I need to ask.”

Yeonjun swallows past the lump in his throat, because they all know what that means. Questions your doctor has to ask in private when a minor shows up with injuries like the ones Beomgyu has… It is surely more than precaution or procedure at this point. Beomgyu’s body doesn’t leave much to the imagination. /Someone/ had done that to him. 

They sit in silence in the waiting room, unable to look anywhere but at their feet. When the doctor calls them back in, saying they can see him again, they re-enter with heavy hearts. The atmosphere is crushing, but Yeonjun feels the weight on his chest lighten a little bit just to have Beomgyu in the room with him, seeing the other in front of him breathing and whole, if much worse for wear. He wishes he could throw his arms around the other, but he settles for leaning his head against Beomgyu’s.

When Beomgyu finds the strength to speak, he chuckles nervously, humorlessly. “…Sorry about this.”

“Sorry for what?” Soobin pleads. His eyes are swimming. 

Beomgyu ignores his question; he seems to think the answer is obvious. Instead, he continues on. “I guess I owe you some kind of explanation.”

Yeonjun shakes his head. “You don’t owe us anything, but we would like you to trust us. To share with us how you ended up like this.” 

Beomgyu takes a deep breath. He can’t meet any of their eyes, instead staring at his lap and fidgeting with his clasped hands as he confesses, “It was my dad.”

No one says anything. They can’t, really. Yeonjun feels like he has been punched in the chest and all the air has been stolen from his lungs.

“It’s not the first time either.” 

It is Kai who sobs first. Yeonjun had suspected, but to hear it… To have it be real is something else entirely. To his close friend. To the boy he had laughed alongside and played games with and pulled pranks with and generally goofed around with. To the boy who had laid beside him at sleepovers and comforted him when he was insecure and talked about his dreams for the future.

Taehyun is not far behind Kai, crying openly as well. He hesitates for only a moment before his trademark bluntness breaks through. “Are you going to tell the police?”

Beomgyu sighs, seeming as though he has the weight of the world on his shoulders. “I don’t know. I don’t know if I can… I mean, if I do tell, and they actually believe me and decide to do something about it, I- what am I supposed to do then?” 

The others exchange looks. They don't know either, and this is so much bigger than them. So much more than a bunch of teenage boys can handle. 

But now that they know, there is at least one thing Yeonjun knows they are all sure of. “We want to help you. You’re not safe there, and you don’t deserve this. No one does. Please, let us help.” 

Beomgyu sniffles and accepts the hand that Yeonjun has reached out to him. Soobin, Kai, and Taehyun crowd around him in the world’s most cautious group hug. “Okay,” Beomgyu finally responds.

They don't want him to go home to a place of fear. They want to support and protect him. And they haven't made any concrete steps, haven’t made any decisions on what to do moving forward. 

But Beomgyu says through his tears, “Knowing I have you guys by my side looking out for me makes me feel a lot better.”

And it’s a start.

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry ;__;
> 
> I didn't go any further here because it was already getting longer than intended and I don't really know how to write what follows, but rest assured that any angst I ever write is followed by a shit-ton of fluff, so Beomgyu definitely does get out of that house and gets loved and cared for!


End file.
